What My Christmas Was Like This Year - an Essay

Hey, Y'all,
Yeah, here I am again, just like the proverbial bad penny, I always turn up somewhere. Ha.

I've been thinking about how my Christmas was this year and I am going to pretend I am back in school writing an essay on "What My Christmas Was Like This Year".

This year, we spent Christmas mostly at Carol and Daryl's home and it was a lot of fun, like it always is, but had something special added. Teresa and Tom were able to come into town and visit with us. They came from far away in Alabama and had to drive two days to get to see us. Teresa is Carol's younger sister and Tom is Teresa's husband. Tom and Teresa came to my house some too, and did some things around the house for me. Teresa and I played with my new Cameo Silhouette cutting machine and Tom fixed an inset for a sewing machine cabinet that made it possible for me to use it as a desk. (The old sewing machine had been removed from the cabinet, leaving a hole in the top of the cabinet). He also hung a picture for me that used to be over my mantle in the house where I used to live in Tennessee.

At Carol's house, we exchanged gifts (that was a lot of fun), and we ate, and we played games. We enjoyed watching the little kids open gifts and play with them. There was a lot of talking and catching up on stuff that had been happening since we last saw one another. We ate some more, and played some more games. We looked at each others gifts. We enjoyed our time together. It was over too soon. 

I loved all the gifts I received, but even more so, I enjoyed the wonderful times together that we had. Carol is a gracious hostess and Daryl is a great host, as well. The spirit of love lives on in their home.  Of course, we missed having Daniel, Whitney and their four children being there with us, but we did visit with them via Skype and enjoyed that tremendously. We loved having all of the rest of us there together.

Of course, we all missed my Dubby but we know he is with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, so there was no sorrow for Dubby, just happiness in knowing that truth. 

That was what my Christmas was like this year.  

Now for a few pictures.

Quilt I made for Roman, Teresa and Tom's grandson

Quilt I made for Teresa

Cool Kids Keeping Warm

Daryl, Ben, Emily, Teresa and Tom Playing Board Game

Matt and Carol

Carol, Grammy and Teresa (Mom with two daughters)

Emily, Ben, Matt and Amy (a lovely group of some of my grandchildren)

Teresa, Tom, Carol, Daryl and Old Grammy in front

Those are the pictures that I had on my camera. Unfortunately, I didn't get pics of Andrew and Julia with their two sweet children, but I have the pictures in my head. Sorry, I can't share them with you. 


I have some wonderful memories of my church family during this season as well. We had a Christmas party a week before Christmas and had a lovely time. I also had my family come to church with me on Christmas day and that was wonderful as well. I feel so very blessed. 


This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later.

Tender Hearts at Christmastime

Hey, Y'all,
Well, I was lying in bed this morning watching the early news (about 4:45 a.m.) and saw a story about a little girl who had called the open line to the station the other day. She asked Santa for some gifts and told how they were not going to have any Christmas this year. It turns out that she and her brother are being raised by grandma, and she  has been out of work for several months. The little girl asked for food among other things. The response was overwhelming, of course. 

It got me to thinking about how our hearts are so tender towards those in need, especially around this time of the year. It is very touching to see such stories, and I know much of it is due to the fact that many of us know what it is like to be without. We also find it sorrowful to think of those who don't have basic necessities of life, and also those who don't have any gifts for their children. 

There are those people who object to having a nativity scene in a public place on public property and want to add non-Christian objects to the scene (like Santa, or Frosty, etc. ) This happened in a small town in Texas. What is wrong with people? Don't they know that without Christ there would be no Christmas? Duh! 

I believe it is just naturally built into our hearts to want to help others. God created us and we are just naturally "programmed" to reach out to help our fellow man, if we have not succumbed to the evils of thinking only of ourselves to the exclusion of others. We are affected by the sorrows of those around us, and want to relieve their suffering. 

How long has it been since you shed tears over the plight of someone else? Did it stop there, or did you do something about it? Just asking...

It is only two more days until we will awaken on Christmas morning and get ready to exchange gifts. I hope you will have a lovely day. I have talked with Teresa this morning and they are in Arkansas and should be here soon. It will be wonderful having us all together on Sunday. I trust we will be able to visit with Daniel in Illinois via Skype. 

Well, that is about it for today. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Thank you for all your prayers this year on our behalf. More later. bye for now. 

Party Time in the Neighborhood

Hey, Y'all,
Well, I have finally almost finished all my Christmas gift making. I am still working on great grandson Roman's quilt. I am still waiting to receive the binding I ordered a week ago. It is supposed to be here today by FedEx. I did get through wrapping all of the Christmas gifts that were ready to wrap. I finished them this morning. I just about ran out of ribbon, though. I thought I had purchased enough the other day, but nope. I have been reduced to scrabbling through old ribbon to finish up. My wrapping techniques leave a lot to be desired, but I think it is what is inside the package that counts, don't you? Don't you hate getting a beautifully wrapped gift and finding the inside doesn't live up to the wrapping? 

Yesterday afternoon, grandson Matt came over and did some cleaning up of viruses on my computer or at least installing a program that does take care of finding and letting me get rid of them. Thank you, Matt! Between him and Son-in-law, Tom, my two computer gurus, my computer stays pretty healthy. 

Last evening I went to Carol and Daryl's annual neighborhood Christmas party that they have been doing for the time they have lived here. This year was 23rd one, I think. There were about 25 people there last evening. (I did not do a head count, but I think that must be about how many were there). Everyone brought snack food, and if anyone left hungry, it had to be their own doing. I took a tray of crackers with some dip in the center. The dip was made of a mixture of Underwood deviled ham, Philly Cream Cheese (Cream cheese with herbs and chives) and some well-chopped pecans. Very simple and quite yummy. Of course, I took pictures and here they are. 

 As you can see, we had people of all ages there at the party.  We had a lot of fun, and did the game where you get to take someone's gift away from them if you like the one they got better than the one you got. 

Just a few more days and the old fellow with the white beard and red suit makes his way around the globe in just one night, leaving gifts for those who have been good this year. Have you been good? I certainly  hope so. 

Well, this is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Teresa and Tom will be here in a few days for a short visit. We look forward to it. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later.

Busy Grammy!

Hey, Y'all,
Just to let you know that I am still in the Land of the Living....I have been quite busy making Christmas gifts for great grandchildren and am still on it. I know I have been neglecting you all, but you know how it goes when you have goals to meet. :)

I have also been doing the regular stuff, like spending some time with Andrew and Julia's two little adorable girls, going to Sunday School and Church, choir practice, etc. 

On Saturday, I decided it was time to get out and go to the Artisan Theater, so I called them and got my reserved ticket to see Scrooge, the Musical. It was really quite excellent (as always) and I sat beside a lady named Annie. I spoke with her quite a bit and also with her husband, whose name I did not get. He and I talked about our memories of World War II. Isn't it wonderful how one can meet such interesting people, if we take the time to interact?

I got to spend some Skype time with daughter, Teresa, on Friday and that is always a pleasure. I showed her what I had completed of her grandson, Roman's, quilt that I am making for him. I only had two rows completed at that time and now I have eight rows finished, with just seven to go. I should have that finished by Wednesday. I had to order binding to go around it, because I couldn't find the color I wanted at Hobby Lobby. 

Last evening, I went to see the children at my church perform a musical, and it was delightful. Don't you love to see the little ones appearing onstage? I loved it. You never know what they are going to do instead of what they are supposed to do. So cute! They did not disappoint. We gave them a standing ovation. 

Well, it is 5:30 a.m. and I have been up since 5, and it won't be long before the innards are awake, yelling for food. Ha ha ha. They will just have to wait awhile, because I want to get on with my work. I think I will just kind of hibernate today and get some more stuff out of the way. I hope to get the house cleaned up this weekend. (I can hear it shouting...."YES! YES! IT IS TIME YOU DID!") ha ha ha. I do have clean laundry to fold, floors to sweep up sewing scraps from. I do have a waste basket next to my sewing table, but somehow, all the scraps don't make it into it. Go figure!

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later. 

I Didn't Know Nothin' 'Bout Birthin' No Babies!

Hey, Y'all,
I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted, until I was reminded by Carol and Daryl this morning. I have been so very busy acting like one of Santa's elves (making Christmas gifts) that I just hadn't taken the time. 

HOWEVER....today is Carol's birthday and when I called her to wish a happy one, she reminded me and I said, "Oh yeah, I guess I better let my friends, and neighbors, and family that I am still kickin' up the dust." 

I wanted to tell you a little bit about when Carol was born. Her dad, Charlie, and I lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where it really gets cold, and we did not have a car. He rode to work with one of his fellow employees, and when we went anywhere else we traveled by city bus. Usually, after the first snow fell, we didn't see the ground until springtime. So, since it was December when Carol was  born, there was snow on the ground and some ice on the sidewalks. My sister, Margaret, was up in Indiana to help me out when Carol was born. She had come up the week before, so she rode with me on the city bus to the doctor's office. 

When I went to the doctor's office that morning, she told me that they were going to do a Caesarian section delivery and that I should go from her office to the hospital, which was not far from her office. My blood pressure was elevated to a dangerous level, and I was in a preeclampsia state. Carol was born at 9 p.m. that same evening, and the doctor said she came into the world crying. 

I had never been in a hospital until that time and had no idea what I was in for. The needles, the transfusions, the bedpans, all those wonderful experiences of hospital life that I have experienced in the years in between then and now. Life for me changed forever with the birth of Carol, and I learned what it was to become a mother. I still don't know much about birthin' no babies, because Teresa who came along three and a half years later was born by C-section as well. I don't know nothin' 'bout no labor pains, thank God. 

I do know about pain from surgery, however, and when I was in the hospital with Carol - Charlie, Margaret, and Harold (Charlie's brother) came up to visit the next evening and they were telling me how Harold got lost coming up there and got on a one way street. Harold was saying that he saw someone coming toward him, and shouted out of the window to them, "Get out of the way, you idiot!"
Then they looked up and saw a sign that said one way and they were the ones going the wrong way. I laughed so hard, and had to hold my tummy to keep from hurting.

If you can believe it, I was in the hospital for a week, which was not unusual for those days. Nowadays they send you home without enough time to recover. We named her Carol for two reasons: Carol is the feminine form of the name Charles, and she was born near Christmas which made her our Christmas Carol. 

Here are some pictures:

Newborn Carol with Charlie and Ruby

s

Looks Like She is Getting Ready to Say Something

From 1952 to 2011- Bennett Family

Big Sister, Carol - Little Sister, Teresa

Happy Birthday, Carol. I love my girls (and all their families). Mom.